Family
by Nicolette134
Summary: Johnny and Sue's thoughts before her wedding in Rise of the Silver Surfer Uses quotes from the movie- quotes and characters don't belong to me. UPDATED: added a second chapter, about life after the wedding. Sort of canon, but may be a bit OOC. More based on the comics than the movies, sorry.
1. Chapter 1

"You know, you don't look completely ridiculous in that dress," Johnny said at his older sister affectionately. More affectionately than he had his date, that's for sure.

"Is that obnoxious brother talk for 'You look kind of nice'?" came her reply. Sue always knew what Johnny meant, even when he didn't quite want to say it.

It's not that Johnny wasn't happy for his sister- he was. Reed's a great guy and he's glad she's found someone who makes her happy, just like he's glad Ben's found Alicia. The bigger issue is that he couldn't seem to find anyone for _himself_.

Not that he wants to make it all about him.

"You look beautiful," he said, and she smiled more than she had all day. She needed to know Johnny was okay with all this. He'd had his fair time to think about it, with all the attempted weddings that didn't work out and all, but she'd never been sure he was fully supportive of her marrying Reed.

It was silly really, her marriage wouldn't change anything about their relationship, she knew that and she knew deep down Johnny did too, but she could see why he might be a little nervous about the whole thing.

It'd been just the two of them against the world for so long now, even she was a little nervous about making Reed an official part of the family. Their family didn't have such a good track record, you know?

"Thank you," she said, still smiling. She didn't like to think about their parents, but one's wedding day does call for some reflection. Not that she had much to reflect about with her mother, she hardly remembered a time when she wasn't the one taking care of Johnny. Of course she missed her and wished she could be here, but Sue had been at peace with her mother's death for years. She had to have been to take proper care of Johnny.

What she wasn't at peace with was her father. Sometimes she wondered if it could've ended differently for the man, now rotting in jail. They'd gone to visit him more than their fair share, but he'd never even spoken to her or Johnny. They just weren't enough to keep him happy after their mother's death, and he clearly wanted nothing to do with them.

Johnny recognized the look on his sister's face as the same one that'd flashed by anytime the passed the courthouse- the last place they'd seen their father. He knew she blamed herself, and he did too, honestly. Neither of them had been enough for their father, enough for anyone in his case. He didn't like to dwell on it, because he didn't like to be too deep, but he had a sneaking suspicion Sue was the only one who'd ever loved him at all in his entire life. He had been an infant when the accident that killed his mother happened, and in the following years, his drunkard father had barely even noticed him.

"Dad would be proud."

Johnny said the only thing he could think of to make his big sister, his only family, happy on her big day, and took her arm to walk her down the aisle.

_Dad _would_ be proud, but we don't need him_, Sue thought to herself, as she looked up to her little brother, all grown up after all these years, _we've got each other._


	2. Chapter 2

"Do I have to kick his ass?" Johnny asked, upon walking into his sister's room and finding her crying.

"Oh goodness, Johnny," she said, wiping her face, "You can't just burst in here."

"I can when my sister's crying," he said, crossing his arms over across his chest.

"Thank you Johnny, really," she smiled. Her brother was always there for her when she needed him.

"Seriously, Sue, just say the word," he said, snapping his fingers and lighting them on fire.

"None of that Johnny," she shook her head, "I don't like you fighting."

Johnny and Reed had gone at it a few times before. Not nearly as often as Johnny and _Ben_, but Sue had a little more control over her husband than she did his grouchy best friend. Although, honestly, she'd prefer Ben to Reed, at this moment.

"Well, I don't like you crying," he said, sitting down on the best next to her and throwing his arm over her shoulder, pulling him in close to her, "What he do now?"

"It's nothing," she said, "I'm just being silly."

"You are many, many things, Sue, but silly is not one of them," her brother joked.

"He just never treats me like an equal," she explained, "When we're out in the world fighting _and_ in the lab."

"Well, I can't be angry with him for having your back when we're out there," Johnny said, "If anything ever happened to you, neither one of us would survive. But about the lab, you don't have to take that from him. You're the smartest girl I know- the smartest woman."

She smiled. She'd been trying to convince the media to drop the 'Girl' and let her go by the Invisible Woman; it wasn't taking as well as she'd hoped, which, of course, only magnified her issues with Reed.

"It's not that he doesn't think I'm smart or anything, it's just that he's so much _smarter._ How do you compete with Reed Richards?" she asked exasperated.

"It shouldn't be a competition. You two are married; you're partners. Equal partners," Johnny said, in a rare moment of insight.

"You're right," said Reed, from the door where he'd caught the young boy's last bit of wisdom, "It's not a competition."

"Of course it isn't!" Sue said, "I can barely keep up to you in the lab."

"But that's not a measure of you as a person," Johnny said.

"Yeah," Reed agreed, "Look at all you've done for Johnny. You think most sisters would've taken in their obnoxious little brothers like you did?"

"Okay, hurtful," Johnny said to Reed before turning back to his sister, "But true. You're the best sister in the world, and all the family I'll ever need."

"Not all of it," she said, patting him on the chest, "You'll find someone. What about that nice girl, Natalie?"

She was partially avoiding confrontation with her husband by bringing up her brother's girlfriends, but Sue was also genuinely interested in Johnny's relationships. She wanted him to be happy and knew he'd be a wonderful husband to some lucky girl one day. She was also contemplating what would happen if he didn't ever settle down, and didn't like the idea of him on his own all the time. She couldn't exactly move him in with her, he and Reed would kill each other, but she would if she thought they could all co-exist. She loved her life with her new husband, for the most part at least, but she also missed having her brother, her best friend, with her all the time like they had been their whole lives.


End file.
